Monday, September 22, 2008

On top of the insanity of trying to finish unpacking and settling in, I've been travelling a tonne with work right now and there is no way I could survive without coffee and my tylenol cold. Many of you might wonder how the survival of a nice lds girl and coffee are related, so let me explain. There are lots of terrible smells on air planes. There was the lady who took off her shoes and the smell was a terrorist act as far as I was concerned and another flight had the awful throw up smell. And the worst part is there is no where to go. But fortunately I have discovered the miracles of coffee. I ask the flight attendent for a packet of coffee, take the plastic off, put it in hanging out over the seat pocket and voila, air freshner. The best part of the coffee is that it doesn't just mask the odours with coffee smell, it actually absorbes the odours. I think this must be the purpose God was thinking of when he created the coffee bean.

Given all the stress needless to say my body is losing the battle against of the viruses out there, but that is where the tylenol cold is saving me. I'm all about control symptoms at this point. I'm hoping that this is the end of the craziness with work, but it can be hard to sometimes.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Putting a bathroom back together is much harder than tearing it apart. Let's just say there were a few nervous break down tears. My beautiful large tub. It is 38" wide in the middle. Well not exactly 38". I made the discouvering that the measurements on the box is not necessarily completely true. The tub is 24" deep, but that means from the bottom of the tub to the top of the tile flange and not how deep the tub actually is. The tub was actually very tricky to get into place because it is wider and deeper than the previous tub. The trick is to roll the tub into place. These are my sinks and counter in the linen closet. It was soooo heavy that we had to get the movers to carry it upstairs.

This is my dad and the dog zack in the chaos called the living room. More chaos in the dining room. Me installing the denssheild behind the tub. It's better than concrete board. It's lighter and easier to cut and install and more water tight. Even if water gets behind the tile, the denssheild never rots. My dad contemplating how to get the 60 and 1/8" vanity into the hole that goes from 60 and 1/4" to 59 and 3/4". We ultimately decided only to put the drywall above the vanity on one side to give the extra bit of room we needed.

Zack supervising the work. The vanity in place. It actually went in pretty smoothly. The counter and sinks is never coming out without a sledge hammer. Besides being incredibly heavy, it is wedged in.

Me tiling and yes I'm wearing a shower cap. I didn't want to mess up my hair. I started off putting the morter on the walls, but found that it was alot easier to back butter the tiles and then place them on the wall. I'm glad I went with large tiles. It was so much work. This was one of my nervous break down days. I was a basket case by the end of the day and I still wasn't done.

Me putting the last tile in place. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! The shower done!

My friend Laura teaching me how to grout. More grouting. The beginnings of the cork floor. The key is to make paper templates for the curve around the tub. This part actually went in very easily. The hard part was putting in the last row. When I bought it, they failed to mention that I needed a pull bar to click in the last row against the wall. I ended up going to 5 different hardware stores looking for one, because every where was sold out.

My done tub and walls. I was painted the one Saturday night till 11:30, so I could have a shower the next day for church. This was another one of my nervous breakdown days. I just really wished I had some moral support. I love my shower, but I'm not sure I ever want to do renovation again. My mostly finished sinks. I still need to caulk along the tiles. My new light fixture. New towel racks. I still have a bunch of finishing to do like base boards and trim etc... The fan is a serious problem, because it has to be install from the attic. For now I'm just keeping the window open.

Right now I just feel like renovating and moving at the same time is just a bad idea. I might feel differently a couple of months from now, but I'm writing it down so I remember, so I never do this to myself again.

About Me

What can I say, I'm 35, flirty and single. I have a job that I love directly helping people with cancer in my province. I'm sewing up a storm making quilts and exploring my fashion creativity. I'm taking piano and starting to compose music to describe my feelings. My life is nothing like I expected it to be, but I own it.